"For untold eons, Eshebala ruled over Vulgarea, the 193rd Layer of the Abyss...content to revel in hedonism, corrupt the hearts of her dwindling followers and inflict petty cruelty. Yet, if there are days in the Abyss, there came one when she realized she despised her own province. She hated demonkind. She hated the Abyss. It had become unbearably tedious, spent...done. The burgeoning goddess decided she would dip her toe back into the lives of mortals, and quest to remember...to understand her own existence...But that was a lofty goal for a mind that had long ago begun to unravel. Instead...She is learning that all she has left is cruelty...and it was always cruelty that gave her power, so she now believes, to the woe of any who cross her path." Partly inspired by a scant notation by Carl Sargeant in 1992's TSR book Monster Mythology: "Eshebala is the foxwoman deity of vanity, charm, greed, and cunning. Her symbol is a female fox. Eshebala appears as a foxwoman, a shapely fur-covered female with a fox’s head, or as a beautiful young elf maiden. She is bedecked in rich clothing and jewels, and carries a silver mirror. Eshebala’s realm of Vulgarea can be found on the 193rd layer of the Abyss. She is wily and vain. She favors beautiful things and collects jewelry and art, the tackier and flashier the better. She prefers to overcome her opponents using subtlety rather than force, seducing and devouring out of boredom. She loves gossip, and always insists on being the center of attention. Eshebala is a patron of evil shapeshifters who use their wits and wiles before resorting to violence." Eshebala is a true chaotic evil demon goddess, behaving 100% true to form, and an extremely challenging opponent to take down for your players. An unforgettable 262 page jaunt for Levels: 15-17, with multiple possible modes of play, including Party Mode for up to 12 players. Profusely and paintstakingly illustrated over the course of several years by an award-winning professional illustrator. No stock illustration in this beast! A loving, dark & insanely detailed exploration of the 193rd Abyssal Plane An exuberant nod to the most grueling, deadly dungeons ever created Rich encounters that play out in a unique way each time 100 + NEW CREATURES 200 + NEW TREASURES (& possibly the most illustrated treasury ever provided) 82 BOOKS for PCs to discover 70 + NEW SPELLS & RITUALS, INCLUDING DETAILED OPTIONS FOR DEMON SUMMONING 50 + NEW TRAPS, HAZARDS & EFFECTS (guaranteed to run amuck) 4 RANDOM TREASURE TABLES, including a TABLE OF GEMSTONES that would be useful in any campaign 2 NEW CLASS SHIFTS: the Demonologist & the Exorcist!
The strangest things wash up on the beach sometimes. The inhabitants of the Acitoff coastline are accustomed to storms, but last week the largest hurricane ever recorded swiftly struck a 60-mile stretch of coastline. The first day after the hurricane, mysterious bodies started floating to surface. They bore the symbol of the feared pirate, Jaggertooth Grin! Now it is up to the adventurers to locate the pirate ship and claim the treasure. The adventurers will have to fight the creatures of the deep in this primarily underwater adventure. Pgs. 3-14
The adventures in Dalentown continue in The Darkness Beneath Dalentown. Workers in the town’s sewers have stumbled upon the long abandoned halls of the dwarves that once settled beneath this region. What they’ve found is a haunted library. What they’ve woken is something far more sinister! The Darkness Beneath Dalentown features hordes of oozes, undead, and demons festering for years in an ancient dwarven mining stronghold. Now, they are slowly working their way to the surface, and the folk of Dalentown are in dire peril!
The unease penetrates deep in the heart of the town of Wildereach. Amalgamous bodies have been found, frozen, roaming, howling. A cloaked figure looms, suspected of snatching townsfolk when the midnight sun hits its darkest points. A creature of the deep tries to stop all that enter it's domain. Many strange happenings, here in Wildereach, is something bigger at play?
Sometimes you can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time... Sheltering from a savage storm, a group of fledgling adventurers find themselves trapped by circumstances and powerful forces from a bygone age. Escaping from dark and dismal caverns, the heroes must brave a nightmarish trek through haunted and hostile terrain, pursued by an mysterious assailant to the very walls of Anduria – home of the greatest civilisation in the world. On the edge between madness and salvation, they must broker a deal with shadowy cults and political powers to determine not only their own fate, but potentially that of the Eternal City itself.
The fabled sword of Selfaril is told to bestow wisdom and power upon whomever wields it, so naturally its discovery has caused quite a stir in Mulmaster. All of this is complicated when a masked benefactor claims to not only know the truth about the blade, but also how it can be used to benefit the oppressed people of Mulmaster. Can it truly change Mulmaster for the better?
An emissary from the dwarven community of Hearth-Home approaches the player characters, beseeching them to aid the dwarves in finding a powerful mage who might bring disaster upon not only their mountain fortress, but all of the Thunder Rift! Escape from Thunder Rift adventure leads the heroes into a dark dungeon where they may discover a gate between the valley of Thunder Rift and the World of Mystara. Packaged with a DM screen. TSR 9437
The Underdark is a subterranean wonderland, a vast and twisted labyrinth where fear reigns. It is the home of horrific monsters that have never seen the light of day. It is here that the dark elf Gromph Baenre, Archmage of Menzoberranzan, casts a foul spell meant to ignite a magical energy that suffuses the Underdark and tears open portals to the demonic Abyss. What steps through surprises even him, and from that moment on, the insanity that pervades the Underdark escalates and threatens to shake the Forgotten Realms to its foundations. Stop the madness before it consumes you! Note for DMs: This adventure is not for the faint of hearted, to run or to play. The module starts with 10 NPCs traveling with the party through the grueling Underdark. This number can grow. The encounters within the book are often incredibly deadly for the characters that would be going through it. This is because the module expects them to run or talk their way through the events, or, in some cases, the module expects them to lose. If your players aren't the kind of party to run, talk, or surrender, do not get this adventure. The module almost requires that you use milestone leveling because the experience provided does not commonly get players to the levels they should be once they get to certain milestones in the story (7th when they leave the underdark, 15th when they face the demon lords.) Good luck and happy questing.
A new, expanded, OSR-ised, prettified edition of Joseph R. Lewis’ Ragged Hollow Nightmare which was rated among The Best by Tenfootpole. Joseph Lewis hit a perfect balance between the classics of dungeonverse fantasy and the whimsy of the folk tales we love so much (as testified by our Folklore Bestiary. we released last year), adding a dash of dreamworld strangeness and a pinch of body horror to spice up his brew. We did our best to respect his recipe when adding our extra material (about 30 pages of it). We worked with Joe and Li-An (the perfect artist to give life to spooky Ragged Hollow and its strange surroundings) to make the best module we could: a solid introduction to old-school gaming for both players and gamemasters. And for the veterans among us, it also makes an excellent, full-fledged campaign starter. Nightmare over Ragged Hollow is a sandbox adventure centred around a quaint town at the edge of the kingdom. But however quiet life in Ragged Hollow is, the town lies between places where you shouldn’t be traveling alone. Places like Gloam Wood (“A witch or two lurk there!”), the Bleak Mountains (“I’m told there are bugbears…”) and their infamous Mount Mourn (“Home, they say, to cursed Dwarven ruins”), not to forget the Wailing Hills (“Bandits on every road!”). There’s even a haunted house by the river (“That mad inventor riddled it with traps!”). But only when an impenetrable dome of golden light materialises around the Temple of Halcyon (“Hey, my kids go to school there!”) do things really get out of hand. Some selfless heroes (or, failing that, a bunch of greedy ne’er-do-wells) should really get involved. One town with three adventure mini-sites Three small dungeons One 50-room dungeon Three hexes with 16 detailed locations Two groups of potential allies or rivals Sixteen pre-generated characters One deadly countdown! Written for the Old-School Essentials (OSE) rule system
Where have the staff gone? Why do the doors not lead where they should? What dark experiments were performed here? And what has become of the asylum’s enigmatic owner? During a routine train ride, the characters are halted by a powerful force within Enfri Asylum. Haunted by murderous doctors, revolutionary patients, and creatures beyond description, the characters must venture into the old hospital and put an end to the madness to reach their destination. The Monsters of Enfri Asylum is a 8 to 12 hour horror adventure for 1st to 5th-level characters.
In the aftermath of AD&D Second Edition's "Return to the Tomb of Horrors," the demilich Acererak was thought destroyed. In truth, his spirit lingered and now after eons he schemes once more to achieve divinity. The characters must travel to three extraplanar dungeons, in addition to the remains of the original Tomb, in order to stop this from coming to pass.
The adventures in Dalentown continue in The Darkness Beneath Dalentown. Workers in the town’s sewers have stumbled upon the long abandoned halls of the dwarves that once settled beneath this region. What they’ve found is a haunted library. What they’ve woken is something far more sinister! The Darkness Beneath Dalentown features hordes of oozes, undead, and demons festering for years in an ancient dwarven mining stronghold. Now, they are slowly working their way to the surface, and the folk of Dalentown are in dire peril!
In this adventure players are set first on a simple task, to solve the disappearance of the local witch before outside forces take an interest. But as the players get deeper, they will rapidly kind themselves on a quest for far more, as they range from an alchemist's lair on a crumbling tower down to a dark swamp full of mystery and danger, seeking a holy relic that might lead them to the outskirts of Hell itself. All in service of the sleepy Village Sujeira and the dusty souls within. 1452: Saving Sujeira’s Soul is an adventure set in northern Portugal on an alternate history Earth during the year 1452, in a world where history is much the same, but for the fact that the Rus are all hirsute dwarves, the hordes that poured out of central Asia were orcish (and half-orcs are mostly janissaries split among the Ottoman Empire’s demesnes), and elves are creatures of rumors and myth. Halflings live among the English and Portuguese in villages and farms, while goblins are pests best left for dead in the wilds between civilized countries. The Church arms its inquisitors with holy blessings, for witches are not mere milk-souring old women but vile devil-pacted souls, and wizards and sorcerers seek human and kine for sacrifices to fuel their darkling magics. There be dragons on the edges of the world, and ogres and sea serpents and giants, but the alchemists of this world know things beyond mortal ken and fight these horrors with science and canny concoctions. Published by Coldlight Press
Nightmare of Blood! The village of Karvolia has paid its annual tribute of blood to the Red Goddess—but this year, none of the donors returned. Now the priestess commands the village elders to send another dozen young men and women to the edifice of stone that looms on the cliffs overlooking the village: the dreaded Blood Vaults. The terrified elders are willing to pay adventurers handsomely to find a way to make this second tribute pass them by. Unfortunately, the latest set of donors has already entered the Blood Vaults, and are being prepared for the donation process…
The ancient world of Harth withers beneath its dying sun…but it’s not dead yet. The land is still riddled with villages in danger, cultists in caves, angels gone mad, eldritch horrors making strange deals, raging dragons, bandits in the woods, and cruel monsters lurking in every shadow. These 13 adventures span a wide variety of locations, environments, creatures, and genres. They are meant for use as quick-play sessions or one-shots, or to be dropped into campaigns as side-quests. These are linear dungeons and mini-quests full of interactivity and strangeness, encouraging exploration, risk-taking, and creative combat. ADVENTURE TYPE: One-Shot / Low Level / Combat / Exploration / Village / Wilderness / City / Subterranean / Dungeon Delve DESIGN NOTES These 13 adventures are intended for low-level characters around Level 3 Overall, these adventures tend to be linear dungeon delves in caves or single buildings 93 unique encounter locations 69 original magic items 71 original monsters (with 28 illustrations) 13 maps/diagrams Each adventure runs 2-4 hours in length
Stories of misfortune are often exaggerated, especially when they have been retold many times. For that reason, most people aren't taking seriously the claim that a sea monster living along the coast is eating whole ships full of sailors and swallowing entire families. But there's no denying a few facts -- the town of Lochfell is losing its citizens to a sea monster (one that walks on water no less), someone is stealing that same town's dead, and ships are beginning to choose other ports for unloading their goods. Such a scenario could doom the residents of the small port town to either a monster's gullet or the poorhouse. No one seems to know whether the town's two ongoing problems are connected, but the sea monster never leaves behind a corpse to bury. Is it collecting bodies for some dark purpose? Or did some more powerful evil creature create the sea monster to do its dirty work? Someone in Lochfell knows the answer, and it's up to the PCs to find it out. Lochfell’s Secret is a short D&D adventure for four 15th level player characters (PCs). The story is set in and around the port town of Lochfell. You can place the action in any section of your campaign world where a coastal town on a bay might exist. If there is a small town that the PCs visited in a past adventure but haven’t returned to in quite a while, so much the better. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.
If absolute power corrupts absolutely, Matron Maelora best beware; her plans for total domination of the Underworld are already close to satisfactory completion, while attacks on the Upperworld have become increasingly successful. The other power-hungry drow families of Holoth may despise her but they know a true leader when they see one, and House Gullion has been revealed as the family to lead them all on the path to glory. With the entire Underworld in chaos and the Spider Goddess regularly communing with her chosen Matron, far greater dreams than mere regional conquest are within the grasp of the drow, as Maelora prepares her grand dark elf army for victory! With other mystical allies standing firm with the Matron, other Underworld races beneath her heel or cowering behind fortified walls, and every drow ready to play their part when she gives the word, what could possibly stop her from achieving her final triumph and fulfilling her destiny? But even the greatest of plans has a flaw if you look hard enough, and a party of stout heart and strong resolve can make a difference. At first, such a party may well believe it is on a smaller adventure, perhaps to win a few baubles or some small acclaim by rescuing a few kidnapped villagers. Soon, however, those adventurers will realise that much more is at stake, and that they are the ones who will need to make moves against the evil Matron Maelora and her increasing dominance if both the entire Underworld and Upperworld are to be saved. But how will they go about it? Can they ensure their own success when an entire city is standing against them? Only they have the chance to halt the Rise of the Drow! Published by AAW Games.
In a dark cell, Rollo Bargamnn, merchant of Thyatis, turns away in disgust from his evil, green-skinned prisoner; capturing this wretch cost a ship and sixty gallant men. Then his heart hardens once more, and he resumes the interrogation. Here, perhaps, he may find an answer to the question that haunts him. What new evil is casting its shadow over the storm-swept eastern reaches of the Sea of Dread? The trading routes are no longer safe. The attacks of the green-skinned "Orcs-of-the-Sea" and the mysterious "Ship-bane" now go unchecked. Once their raids were random, but the influence of some unseen master has made them into an organized menace. Soon the questioning will be over; Rollo will know enough to track the threat to its lair. Then he will need a band of hardy adventurers brave enough to take on the task. You perhaps? TSR 9127 (Graeme Morris's name is spelled 'Grame' on the cover of this module)
Into Wonderland is a book detailing an adventure in the Feywild, a setting for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. This book provides player options, encounters, variant rules, and a campaign of expeditions into the unknown centred around the city of Endercoast that has been spirited away from the Material Plane. To survive, you'll need to balance the needs of the displaced city with the mercurial whims of four powerful archfey. What's Included? - Endercoast, a city plucked from its roots and replanted in the Feywild - Quirks of the Feywild, including four powerful archfey, a guide for creating new archfey, rules for travel using emotional truth instead of maps, chaotic seasonal and magical effects, pranks, consequences for getting lost, and 14 weird stops along the way - New races - New subclasses - New backgrounds - New feats - New spells - Fantastical questlines taking a party through the courts of the archfey and on magical journeys inspired by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm - A whole heap of chaotic encounters with strange fey creatures - Dozens of new monsters, including 8 ancient beasts, 3 dangerous plants, 4 extremely powerful archfey, a bunch of NPCs based on the new subclasses of the book, creepy new fey like the darkwood stalker and the time vulture, a powerful hag, and more
The Dread tunnels of Ruxbar were created by a cult of a lesser evil deity of the giant pantheon, known as Jargain to serve as a planar gate in hope of bringing chaos and destruction to the natural order of the world and power to the one who would control the gate. Ruxabar was the high cultist who completed the ritual but to his surprise nothing of what he expected came through the gate. Plague creatures, toxic gases and vapors, diseases of all kinds and decay lay quick waste to him and his cult. For some time the gate remained open and the settlements nearby were afflicted with diseases never seen before. The nearby town of Stagwood was quickly abandoned due to the plague. Rumor has it that the gods have weakened the gate and the cult has been destroyed. The remaining villages that managed to somewhat resist the plague are now hiring brave adventurers to venture into the tunnels and close the planar gate for good! Are you capable enough of surviving the horrors that reside in the Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar? Published by Mistfactor Press